Harvest of Hindus as Converts By Pavithran
Harvest No.1: Pope John Paul II’s visit to India
The heading “Harvest of Hindus as Converts” is courtesy Pope John Paul II who had declared during his visit to New Delhi during the Deepavali festival on November 6, 1999 that the church would reap a harvest of faith in the Asian Continent in the new millennium. The document of this declaration was christened as "Ecclesia in Asia" (The Church in Asia).
Pope’s declarations were prominently published in the newspapers under the bold headings such as “Convert Asia Next: Pope”. He had exhorted the audience that the Asia should be evangelized in the third millennium like Europe and the two Americas in the first and second millennium respectively. Pope had wondered that it was indeed a mystery why the Savior of the world, born in Asia, had until now remained largely unknown to the people of the continent. Pope’s message was that this position should be reversed by aggressive efforts of conversion of other religious sects in Asia which includes Hindus in India.
Pope’s audience were 100 bishops, 60 of them from outside India apart from hundreds of priests, nuns and laypeople attending a solemn ceremony for the Pope at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi.
At that time, Mr.Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India who had reacted to this proselytisation by stating that ‘if the Christians converted Hindus, we would reconvert them’. This was a very mild symbolic rebuttal voice of peace loving Hindus.
But, I could not digest the occasion, place and time chosen by Pope John Paul II, a great religious head of Catholic Christians. To emphasize, the day was Deepavali, a Hindu festival of lights and his message had darkened the numerous Hindu minds, to say the least.
Conversions of other faiths by Christians of all denominations are the crusade of their religious faiths and they do not subscribe to the views that all religious faiths lead to salvation. The Christians’ Religious Heads are of the firm opinion that only through Jesus Christ, one could achieve salvation and that it is their solemn duty to save the humanity from ‘darkness into light’ by evangelization.
Pope had thundered on the occasion thus: "The peoples of Asia need Jesus Christ and his gospel. Asia is thirsting for the living water that Jesus alone can give."
Catholics are supposed to be very tolerant people, but, on hearing and reading the messages of Pope who was their ultimate authority on all religious matters, the catholics had no option but to implement His dictum verbatim.
At that time, a few hardcore Hindutva activists had feared that the Pope had confirmed fears that the Catholic Church has "grand plans to convert India into a Christian country." To start with, the christian missionaries had chosen soft targets i.e. poor hindu tribals and scheduled castes and scheduled tribes for conversions.
Conversions per se are not unconstitutional, but, the methods adopted by them in denigrading the hindu gods during their prayer meetings and through printed materials have angered the local hindus residing nearby. The hindu activists had taken up the issue and opposed the conversions leading to violent upheavels.
There are many facets for this issue which will be dealt with in the coming issues of E-Touch.
Let me end this month’s article with the quote of Mr.Jomo Kenyata, the African Leader, which is very opt for issue of conversions resorted to by the Christians: ‘When missionaries came to our country, they had Bible on their hands. But now, they have our land and we have their Bible!’
(Harvest to be continued.)
The heading “Harvest of Hindus as Converts” is courtesy Pope John Paul II who had declared during his visit to New Delhi during the Deepavali festival on November 6, 1999 that the church would reap a harvest of faith in the Asian Continent in the new millennium. The document of this declaration was christened as "Ecclesia in Asia" (The Church in Asia).
Pope’s declarations were prominently published in the newspapers under the bold headings such as “Convert Asia Next: Pope”. He had exhorted the audience that the Asia should be evangelized in the third millennium like Europe and the two Americas in the first and second millennium respectively. Pope had wondered that it was indeed a mystery why the Savior of the world, born in Asia, had until now remained largely unknown to the people of the continent. Pope’s message was that this position should be reversed by aggressive efforts of conversion of other religious sects in Asia which includes Hindus in India.
Pope’s audience were 100 bishops, 60 of them from outside India apart from hundreds of priests, nuns and laypeople attending a solemn ceremony for the Pope at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi.
At that time, Mr.Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India who had reacted to this proselytisation by stating that ‘if the Christians converted Hindus, we would reconvert them’. This was a very mild symbolic rebuttal voice of peace loving Hindus.
But, I could not digest the occasion, place and time chosen by Pope John Paul II, a great religious head of Catholic Christians. To emphasize, the day was Deepavali, a Hindu festival of lights and his message had darkened the numerous Hindu minds, to say the least.
Conversions of other faiths by Christians of all denominations are the crusade of their religious faiths and they do not subscribe to the views that all religious faiths lead to salvation. The Christians’ Religious Heads are of the firm opinion that only through Jesus Christ, one could achieve salvation and that it is their solemn duty to save the humanity from ‘darkness into light’ by evangelization.
Pope had thundered on the occasion thus: "The peoples of Asia need Jesus Christ and his gospel. Asia is thirsting for the living water that Jesus alone can give."
Catholics are supposed to be very tolerant people, but, on hearing and reading the messages of Pope who was their ultimate authority on all religious matters, the catholics had no option but to implement His dictum verbatim.
At that time, a few hardcore Hindutva activists had feared that the Pope had confirmed fears that the Catholic Church has "grand plans to convert India into a Christian country." To start with, the christian missionaries had chosen soft targets i.e. poor hindu tribals and scheduled castes and scheduled tribes for conversions.
Conversions per se are not unconstitutional, but, the methods adopted by them in denigrading the hindu gods during their prayer meetings and through printed materials have angered the local hindus residing nearby. The hindu activists had taken up the issue and opposed the conversions leading to violent upheavels.
There are many facets for this issue which will be dealt with in the coming issues of E-Touch.
Let me end this month’s article with the quote of Mr.Jomo Kenyata, the African Leader, which is very opt for issue of conversions resorted to by the Christians: ‘When missionaries came to our country, they had Bible on their hands. But now, they have our land and we have their Bible!’
(Harvest to be continued.)
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